Baseball faces seven teams on southern swing

The baseball team went 4-8 on its road trip through the South over Spring Break. Its overall record now lies at 4-12, improving from 0-4 before the break.

In North Carolina, the Tigers went 2-7 before traveling to Virginia, where they split four games with William & Mary.

First on the docket was North Carolina-Wilmington (17-10) on Friday, March 14. Princeton played small ball to score twice in the sixth inning in pulling ahead of the Seahawks. Junior outfielder Eric Fitzgerald scored on a sacrifice fly, and junior shortstop Steve Young scored off a single by senior catcher Jon Miller. UNC-Wilmington stormed back, however, with three runs to claim the 4-2 win.

Later that night, the Tigers won their first game of the season against Old Dominion (8-12). Senior David Boehle pitched six innings, allowing only one earned run on five hits in the 12-4 victory. Freshman infielder Stephen Wendell had a team-leading five runs batted in against the Monarchs.

The following day Princeton faced Oklahoma State (13-8). The teams fought to a 2-2 tie until the seventh inning, when the Cowboys began a two-out rally in which they scored four runs. Of the five consecutive base runners, only one came off a hit because senior pitcher Mark Siano gave up three walks. He was replaced by sophomore Worth Lumry, who hit a batter. There was also an error by sophomore centerfielder B.J. Szymanski in the rally. That was more than enough for Oklahoma St., which went on to win the game, 6-3.

On Sunday, the Tigers faced North Carolina State (13-8) in Zebulin, NC, and fell once again, 8-2. The Wolfpack let Princeton stay close until the bottom of the fourth inning, when NC St. broke a 1-1 tie with two runs, followed by three in the fifth and two in the eighth. Wolfpack pitcher Vern Sterry hurled a complete game, in which he struck out 14 batters.

The next day, Princeton played NC St. again, this time in Buies Creek, NC. The outcome was the same, though: the Wolfpack crushed the Tigers in the first half of a debilitating double header by a score of 13-5. The game was close — only 6-5 in favor of NC St. — until the Wolfpack scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That night, Princeton took on Campbell (7-16), but the Tigers only sunk deeper, losing 14-0. Every Campbell non-pitcher got a hit, and all but one scored. Junior pitcher Brian Biegen started the game and took a beating, giving up eight runs, five earned, in five innings. Senior Mark Grayson pitched an inning and gave up six runs, all of them earned.

Princeton snapped its four-game losing streak with a win over North Carolina (16-7) on Tuesday, defeating the Tar Heels, 8-3. Junior catcher Tim Lahey hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. Siano went the distance, scattering seven hits over nine innings.

UNC, head coach Scott Bradley's alma mater, did not allow that for long, however, and the Tar Heels walloped the Tigers in a shootout, 24-12, in their next game. Despite freshman right fielder Andrew Salini's five RBIs, Princeton was unable to keep up with the torrid attack from the boys on Tobacco Road. After six innings, the Tigers were up, 12-11, but the Tar Heels scored 13 runs in their last two trips to bat.

The Tigers next took on William & Mary (14-11) four times. In the first game, the teams battled to a 6-6 tie after nine innings, but a home run off the bat of Miller gave the Tigers a one-run win in the tenth inning.

The two teams played a double header the next day, which they split. Princeton took the matinee, 11-8, to notch its first two-game winning streak of the year. The Tribe made five errors, leading to six unearned runs for Princeton. The Tigers were no defensive juggernaut, though, making four errors themselves, leading to five unearned runs.

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In the second game — a 6-5 win over William & Mary — Princeton jumped out to a 5-1 lead after four innings, but then lost control, allowing the Tribe to tie the game in the seventh inning. In the ninth, Tiger pitcher Erik Stiller gave up the game-winning run, and took the loss after allowing four runs on four hits in only 3.1 innings.

The next day, the Tribe ended Princeton's road trip with a 15-0 thrashing of the Tigers. Three Princeton pitchers gave up five runs each in the loss. Princeton batters did not fare much better, managing to garner only two hits off Tribe pitching.